CAPITALDIGEST, DAILY NEWS. 27 JUNE 2022

MONDAY 20/6/2022 – SCARCITY HITS LAGOS, ABUJA, FUEL SELLS N180/LITRE AS NNPC CUTS SUPPLIES Fuel queues hit major cities of Lagos, Abuja and Ogun on Monday, forcing motorists to spend hours at filling stations. In Lagos and Ogun states, The PUNCH witnessed long queues at several filling stations such as Mobil, Capital, Fatgbems, Enyo, TotalEnergies and NNPC. Though there were products at these filling stations, which also sold at N165/litre, motorists struggled to get gasoline with which to run their economic lives. There were also queues in states bordering the FCT, including Nasarawa and Niger. In the Federal Capital Territory, there were long queues at various filling stations such as the NNPC, Mobil, A.A. Rano, AYA Ashafa, Enyo, among others. Hundreds of motorists besieged the few filling stations that dispensed petrol at various states, spending hours on queues in a bid to buy PMS. Oil marketers blamed the development on the drop in supply, stating that the demand for petrol was currently higher than what was being provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. TUESDAY 21/6/2022 – STOCK MARKET REBOUNDS AFTER DAYS OF PROFIT-TAKING Breaking from five-day consecutive sessions of losses, the stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday appreciated by N181 billion following investors bargain hunting in Dangote Cement Plc and 13 other stocks on the bourse. Precisely, the NGX All-Share Index inched higher by 335.01 basis points or 0.66per cent to close at 51,091.75 basis points, while the overall market capitalisation value gained N181 billion to close at N27.544 trillion. Consequently, the stock market in its Month-to-Date loss moderated to -3.6per cent, while the Year-to-Date return increased to 19.6per cent. The market gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Dangote Cement, MRS Oil Nigeria, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), SEPLAT Energy and Oando. However, market sentiment, as measured by market breadth closed negative as 22 stocks lost, relative to 14 gainers. Livestock Feeds recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N1.32, per share. MRS Oil Nigeria followed with a gain 9.80 per cent to close at N16.25, while Dangote Cement appreciated by 8.30 per cent to close at N270.00, per share. NAHCO rose by 7.69 per cent to close at N8.40, while Royal Exchange appreciated by 5.56 per cent to close at 95 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Learn Africa and BUA Foods led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent each to close at N2.25 and N49.50 respectively, while Japaul Gold and Ventures followed with a decline of 9.68 per cent to close at 28 kobo, per share. WEDNESDAY 22/6/2022 – BANKS RECORD N1.21TN NON-PERFORMING LOANS The total non-performing loans in the banking sector hit N1.21tn as of the end of February 2022, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria have revealed.The CBN stated in reports obtained from the Monetary Policy Committee that the total credit in the sector rose to N25.25tn as of the end of February 2022 from N21.13tn as of the end of February 2021.It stated that the non-performing loans reflected the case-by-case review of regulatory forbearance, effects of the Global Standing Instruction policy, and sound industry risk management practices.A member of the MPC, Kingsley Obiora, said the banking system maintained its resilience amid economic recovery. He said, “Overall, the industry credit increased by 19.53 per cent to N25.25n in February 2022 from N21.13tn in February 2021. The industry NPL ratio continued to trend below the prudential threshold of five per cent. “It decreased to 4.80 per cent at the end of February 2022 compared with 6.38 per cent in February 2021. The downward trend was attributable to recoveries, restructuring of facilities and sound management practices by DMBs (Deposit Money Banks).” The Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability Directorate, CBN, Aishah Ahmad, said, “Total credit also increased by N4.13tn between end February 2021 and end-February 2022 with significant growth in credit to manufacturing, general commerce, and oil and gas sectors.” THURSDAY 23/6/2022 – NGX TRANSACTIONS HIT N1.51TN IN FIVE MONTHS The total value of domestic and foreign transactions on Nigerian Exchange Limited for the first five months of the year 2022 rose to N1.51tn. This record shoots higher against N933.65bn, which was the total transactions carried out by both domestic and foreign investors in the corresponding period of January to May 2021. In a report released by NGX Regulation Limited on behalf of NGX, the ‘Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment May 2022’ report showed the transactions as well as trading figures from market operators. It also showed that domestic investors had continued to hold ground on the floor of the NGX despite rising inflation and currency volatility in the foreign exchange market which remained key drivers of the domestic and foreign portfolio investment. Further analysis showed that foreign transactions stood at N201.29bn, accounting for about 13.37 per cent of the total transactions carried out from January to May, while domestic transactions constituted N1.3tn, representing 86.63 per cent of the total transaction, outperforming the foreign investment during the same period. Analysis of domestic transactions showed that institutional investors outperformed retail investors. FRIDAY 24/6/2022 – FG: WE SAVED OVER N10TRN THROUGH TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT IMPLEMENTATION The federal government yesterday disclosed that over N10 trillion had been saved since the Treasury Single Account (TSA) was introduced by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. The Director-General of Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr. Dasuki Arabi, who made this known at a news briefing at Abuja, declared that government had succeeded in getting the TSA deployed in all ministries, departments and agencies. According to him: “Challenges have come in the implementation at the initial stage, but we are overcoming that and government is able to save over N10 trillion over the years because whatever you’re generating now goes into a TSA that is managed by somebody else, not you. “And government, especially at the top is always able to see what has come into our TSA today and what has gone out of that. So planning has been simplified. Budgeting has been simplified. Our distribution and allocation of resources have been simplified and streamlined.” Speaking on the performance of the Bureau in the execution of its core mandate particularly in ensuring the full implementation of reform policies and programmes for the government, he said the introduction of Integration Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) led to the reduction of the Federal Civil Service personnel to 720,000. The IPPIS, the DG further explained, led to the weeding out of about 70,000 ghost workers from the service.